JP2610774B2 - Pachinko ball counting and dispensing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pachinko ball counting and dispensing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a pachinko ball counter for counting the number of replenishing balls at the time of refilling pachinko balls is generally used. Or by counting the number of rotations of a rotation control member such as a cabana that swings each time the counting wheel rotates by one tooth by means of a proximity switch or the like, and integrating and counting based on the signal. is there.

[0003]

However, in the counter configured to count the number of rotations of the counting wheel, since the number of pachinko balls ejected in one rotation of the counting wheel is constant, the number of balls is accurately counted. As a result, an arbitrary number of balls cannot be detected accurately up to one unit. In addition, if a pachinko ball does not enter any of the concave portions of the counting wheel, there is a so-called missing ball, this is counted, and erroneous counting is liable to occur. There was a problem that it was not possible to accurately count and pay out.

In a counter which performs counting by swinging a rotation control member, a switch must be turned on and off every time the rotation control member swings. Therefore, a switch to be used must have high performance. However, depending on the degree of swing of the rotation control member, the switch is continued without being turned on and off, and there is a problem that erroneous counting is unavoidable. On the other hand, in a conventional ball counting machine using a tooth wheel, the ball passage through which the panchinko ball falls by its own weight is vertical and straight. The pachinko ball that falls under its own weight collides with the tip of the tooth ring at high speed because it comes into contact with the ball, which also hinders accurate counting and has a problem that erroneous counting is likely to occur. .

In view of this, the present invention can accurately count and pay out pachinko balls up to one unit even if a tooth wheel having the same shape as a conventional counting wheel is used, thereby causing an erroneous counting. It is an object of the present invention to provide a pachinko ball counting and dispensing device which can eliminate the problem.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a ball passage for guiding a pachinko ball falling under its own weight by a vertical inlet side, a vertical outlet side, and an arc-shaped portion connecting between the doors. It is formed so that the position of the upstream inlet side and the position of the downstream outlet side are different, and it has a plurality of teeth and a pachinko ball is located between the teeth so that the pachinko ball can be rotated by the movement of the pachinko ball. A sensor for detecting and counting pachinko balls flowing down into a ball passage downstream from the tooth tip position of the tooth ring, with the tooth tip facing the arcuate portion of the passage; and A wheel stopper that engages with the tooth tip of the tooth wheel so as to stop the rotation of the tooth wheel at an arbitrary position with respect to a plurality of tooth tips of the tooth wheel; Drive control so that the tooth wheel stopper engages with the tooth tip of the tooth wheel when One in which it was allowed androgynous and solenoids.

[0007]

In the locked state, a pachinko ball is supplied into the ball passage, and the engaging portion of the tooth stopper is engaged with the tooth tip of the tooth wheel by the action of the solenoid to rotate the tooth wheel. It blocks the outflow of pachinko balls in the ball passage.

[0008] When a pachinko ball throwing command signal is input, the solenoid is energized and the wheel stopper is disengaged from the tip of the wheel to release the restraint of the wheel. Thereby, the tooth wheel is rotated clockwise by the weight of the pachinko ball, and the pachinko ball flows downward. Since the flowing pachinko balls interrupt the optical path of the sensor, a counting signal is issued and counted based on the signal. When a predetermined number is counted, the signal activates the solenoid to stop the tooth wheel.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the internal structure of one embodiment of a pachinko ball counting and dispensing apparatus 1 according to the present invention, showing a front view when a tooth wheel 2 is locked, FIG. 2 showing a right side view, and FIG. Reference numeral 3 denotes a front surface in a state where the lock is released.

The ball passage 3 is formed inside the body 4, and in the illustrated embodiment, a vertical section 3A, an arc-shaped section 3B connected to the lower end thereof and corresponding to a substantially quadrant, and an arc-shaped section 3A.
B has a vertical section 3C connected to the lower end.

The tooth ring 2 has a plurality of (ten in the illustrated example) engagement recesses 2A, 2 into which one pachinko ball 5 can be fitted.
, And the tooth tips 2B forming the engagement recesses 2A, 2A,... Are formed through holes 3E formed in the concave curved wall 3D of the arcuate section 3B of the ball passage 3. The center of the tooth wheel 2 is rotatably mounted on a body 4 by a shaft 6 so as to face the interior of the tooth ring 3.

An optical sensor is used as the sensor 7 and is provided at a bent portion from the arc-shaped section 3B to the vertical section 3C of the ball passage 3. The ball passage of the optical sensor support 7A supported by the body 4 is provided. A light projecting and light receiving element 7B is provided opposite to a front end portion extending to a side center portion of the pachinko 3. The pachinko ball 5 passing through the ball passage 3 cuts off the optical path to generate a signal and count.

The rotation control member 8 has a governor structure as in the prior art. An intermediate portion is attached to the body 4 so as to be swingable by a shaft 9, and two projections 8 A and 8 B at both ends are engaged with the tooth wheel 2. .. Are alternately fitted into and removed from the mating recesses 2A, 2A,.

The tooth wheel stopper 10 has, at one end, a locking portion 11 which engages with the tooth tip 2B of the tooth wheel 2 to restrict its rotation.
The intermediate portion is swingably attached to the body 4 by a shaft 9. In the illustrated embodiment, the intermediate portion is formed in a box shape with both sides open as shown in FIG. They are fitted and mounted coaxially by the shaft 9.

A weak tension spring 12 is stretched between the other end of the tooth wheel stopper 10 and the body 4 side, and the locking portion 11 is urged in a direction to come off the tooth tip 2 B of the tooth wheel 2. I have.

The engaging portion 11 is provided with an engaging recess 2A of the tooth wheel 2.
The jaw 11A engages with the tooth tip 2B on the rear side in the rotation direction to prevent the rotation of the tooth wheel 2, and the rear surface 11B of the locking portion 11 is formed flat.

In the illustrated embodiment, the stopper lock member 1
3 is used. This member 13 has an intermediate portion that is swingably attached to the body 4 by a shaft 14 and a portion below the shaft 14 is attached to the body 4.
5 is connected to the plunger 15A by a pin 16 and a long hole 13A, and a tension spring 17 is stretched between a portion above the shaft 14 and the body 4 side. And this lock member 13
When the solenoid 15 is de-energized and the spring 17 rotates counterclockwise in the figure by a spring 17 and abuts against a stopper 18 on the body 4 side, its lower end 13B is at the back surface 11B of the locking portion 11 of the tooth wheel stopper 10. When the solenoid 15 is energized, the stopper lock member 13 rotates clockwise in the drawing to rotate the lower end 13 when the solenoid 15 is excited.
B is disposed so as to slip to the left so as to slide from the back surface 11B of the locking portion 11. In addition, the constraint of this tooth wheel 2 is as follows.
Of course, the lock may be directly performed by the solenoid 15 without using the stopper lock member 13.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described. FIG.
In the locked state, the pachinko ball 5 is supplied into the ball passage 3, and the tooth wheel 2 is engaged with the locking portion 1 of the tooth wheel stopper 10.
The first jaw 11A is engaged with the tooth tip 2B to prevent the tooth wheel 2 from rotating clockwise, and the lower end 13B of the stopper lock member 13 is located on the back surface 11B of the locking portion 11. Thus, the tooth ring stopper 10 is restrained, and the outflow of the pachinko balls 5 in the ball passage 3 is stopped. In this state, the earliest pachinko ball 5 is stopped by the corner 3F at the end of the arcuate section 3B of the ball passage 3 and one tooth tip 2B of the gear wheel 2.

Here, when a command signal for ejecting the pachinko ball 5 is input, the solenoid 15 is energized and the plunger 15 is turned on.
When A is pulled, the stopper lock member 13 rotates clockwise around the shaft 14 against the spring 17, and its lower end 13 </ b> B is removed from the back surface 11 </ b> B of the locking portion 11 of the tooth wheel stopper 10. As a result, the tooth ring stopper 10 rotates counterclockwise about the shaft 9 by the pulling force of the spring 12 as shown in FIG. 3, and the locking part 11 escapes from the engagement recess 2A of the tooth ring 2 and The constraint of 2 is released. As a result, the tooth ring 2 is rotated clockwise by the weight of the pachinko balls 5, and the pachinko balls 5 flow downward through the vertical sections 3C. The flowing pachinko ball 5 interrupts the optical path of the optical sensor 7 when entering the vertical area 3C, so that a counting signal is issued and counting is performed based on the signal.

When a stop signal is input in the state shown in FIG. 3 after the predetermined number of pachinko balls 5 have been thrown out, the solenoid 15 is demagnetized, and the stopper lock member 13 is rotated counterclockwise by the spring 17. The lower end 13 </ b> B moves to the back surface 11 </ b> B of the locking portion 11 of the tooth wheel stopper 10 and
Is engaged with the engaging concave portion 2A of the tooth wheel 2, and the tooth wheel 2 is immediately stopped. Thus, when the pachinko ball 5 at the position A in FIG. 3 reaches the position B in FIG. 1, the tooth wheel 2 stops, and the outflow of the pachinko ball 5 thereafter is prevented.

As described above, according to the present invention, the number of pachinko balls to be thrown out is directly counted by the sensor disposed in the ball path immediately after the tooth wheel, so that pachinko balls are counted. Even if high speed is sent out at a rate of 40 to 50 pieces per second, there is no occurrence of switch operation delay or on / off failure as in the conventional case, and it is possible to eliminate the occurrence of erroneous counting based on this, and to improve the counting accuracy of the number of ejected pieces. Can be significantly increased. Also, since counting is performed by passing pachinko balls sent out by the tooth wheel, counting can be performed irrespective of the number of engagement concave portions of the tooth wheel, so that engagement is performed as in the conventional method of counting by the number of rotations of the tooth wheel. The number is not limited to an integral multiple of the number of recesses, and the number of balls can be thrown out in units of one, increasing the degree of freedom. No error occurs. And since the stop of the rotation of the tooth wheel is controlled by the solenoid, the tooth wheel can be stopped at an arbitrary position,
Any number of pachinko balls can be paid out. In addition, since the ball passage when the pachinko ball reaches the tooth tip of the tooth wheel by its own weight is curved in an arc shape, the speed of the pachinko ball is attenuated, and the tooth tip of the tooth wheel is positioned in this arc-shaped portion. The pachinko ball does not collide with the tooth tip of the wheel,
In addition, since the speed of the pachinko ball is less than that of the arc portion, the counting accuracy of the counting sensor is improved.

The shape and structure of each member in the present invention are not limited to the illustrated embodiment, but can be changed as appropriate.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an internal front view of a pachinko ball counting and dispensing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention in a locked state.

FIG. 2 is a right side view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a main part in the unlocked state.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the tooth wheel stopper.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the same.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS 1 Pachinko ball counting and dispensing device 2 Tooth ring 2A Engagement concave portion 2B Tooth tip 3 Passage 4 Body 5 Pachinko ball 7 Optical sensor 7B element 8 Rotation control member 10 Tooth wheel stopper 11 Locking portion 13 Stopper lock portion 15 solenoid

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Kazunari Kawashima 5-552-1, Sakurayama, Zushi City, Kanagawa Prefecture (56) References JP-A-52-118352 (JP, A) Jpn. , U) Japanese Utility Model Showa 57-34276 (JP, U)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A ball passage for guiding a pachinko ball falling under its own weight is formed by a vertical inlet side and a vertical outlet side, and an arc-shaped portion connecting between the inlet and outlet. Are formed with different positions on the outlet side, and have a plurality of teeth, and the pachinko balls are located between the teeth and the teeth are formed into an arc shape of the passage so as to be rotatable by the movement of the pachinko balls. A sensor that detects and counts pachinko balls flowing down into the ball passage downstream from the tooth tip position of the tooth wheel, and a plurality of tooth tips of the tooth wheel. A wheel stopper that engages with the tooth tip of the wheel so as to stop the rotation of the wheel at an arbitrary position; and the wheel stopper is detachable from the wheel stopper so that when the number of balls reaches a predetermined number, the tooth stopper stops the tooth. And a solenoid that controls the drive so as to engage the tooth tip of the wheel. Pachinko ball of counting dispenser that.